Scientific ideas competition in biology

Competition completed

A world where dreams are not a crime

For a dream to become reality, it needs a meeting with science

We organized a competition of scientific ideas in biology, where bold thinking is welcome and answers to the most complex questions can be sought. Where curiosity leads beyond familiar horizons, and faith in human potential is limitless.

Competition Results Learn More

GenotypeCode into life

TimeAging and control

OriginLife from matter

Artwork representing culture as a biological force

CultureBiology beyond the body

Artwork representing consciousness and the brain

ConsciousnessThe light within

Why BioDreamers

Manifesto

BioDreamers is science where dreaming is possible again. We postulate a new and simultaneously ancient view of science: the romance of the possible, the beauty of challenges, and the freedom to think boldly. Great discoveries never started with a report. They started with imagination. We are creating a global competition of challenges in biology for scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and everyone shaping the future of science.

The world has become more complex. There is more data than can be grasped. Experiments are more multidimensional than intuition. Systems are more nonlinear than the language we are used to describing them in.

This means we need not to repeat the path of predecessors, but to make the next leap.

Core directions

Big Ideas

Genotype → Phenotype

How does a line of code become a living, dynamic system? How do forms, functions, intelligence and metabolism arise? How do we manage complexity?

Consciousness

How does the brain ignite the light within? Why do some neural networks begin to understand while others do not?

Origin of Life

How did the first self-sustaining system arise? If life once emerged, what prevents it from being created again?

Aging and Time in the Organism

Why has evolution not eliminated aging? Random degradation or a programmed process? Can we control time inside a living system?

Culture as a Biological Phenomenon

Culture changes the environment faster than evolution. It can launch a wave of intelligence across the Universe. What are its laws and future scenarios?

Subtasks and intersections

Where the challenges connect

Epigenetic programs of development
Morphogenesis and artificial organs
Neural networks and forms of intelligence
Synthetic cells
Multi-omic map of humans
Microbiome as a control system

Survival in extreme environments
Bioecosystems and forms of life
Metatheory of aging
Engineering methods in biology
Birth of consciousness and AI

Expert panel

Judges

Maxim Makarenko

Leading Researcher, Sirius University of Science and Technology

Darya Vetoshkina

PhD in Biology, Senior Researcher IFPB RAS, Vice President RPS

Natalia Permyakova

Senior Researcher, ICG SB RAS

Ilya Zubarev

Molecular and cellular biologist, founder of ExoMe, Associate Professor at MIPT

Marina Utkina

Molecular biologist, PhD, expert in regulation of cellular states and intercellular interactions

Maria Bogachek

PhD in Biology, Leading Researcher at Sirius University, CEO EvoPreclinic, RAS Expert

Alexey Orlov

Expert in biosensors and computational biomedicine, PhD in Physics and Mathematics

Polina Bikmulina

Design Center Biofactory, Institute of Regenerative Medicine, Sechenov University

Konstantin Popadyin

Head of the Center for Mitochondrial Functional Genomics, BFU named after Kant

Yunona Pospelova

Senior Data Scientist and Bioinformatics Engineer, Quantori

AI agent "Era"

Part of the hybrid review process alongside human experts

Evaluation process

How the competition was assessed

288 applications were received from researchers, students, doctors, entrepreneurs and science enthusiasts.
Each application was independently reviewed by at least two experts and five language models: Claude Opus 4.5, GPT-5.2 Pro, Gemini 3 Pro, DeepSeek v3.2 and Grok 4.
All applications were evaluated on one scale: significance for biology, implementation potential, clarity, quality of justification and the author's connection to the topic.
Expert scores were statistically normalized with Z-score correction to account for evaluation style differences.
Each model was calibrated against an expert gold standard using an LLM-as-Judge workflow.
The final decision remained with people: experts held a two-hour meeting, discussed the top 20 submissions, resolved disputes and selected winners by consensus.

Winners